Independence Day and the Freedom to Fly

I want to thank the hundreds of flyers who took me up on my offer for the DO NOT CONSENT TO SEARCHES stickers. There are now thousands of those stickers affixed to their new homes, plying the national air space or parked on ramps and in hangars across our United States of America.

Those stickers are nothing more than paper, ink, plastic, and a little glue. But it’s the message printed on them, the resolution of those who placed them on their aircraft, which is significant. Sending stickers to those who asked, that was easy. Standing up to the intimidation to voluntarily give up a basic right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution printed on those stickers, that’s hard.

I live near a historical monument here in San Antonio, Texas, that represents the lengths to which people will go to stand up for what they know to be right. And while the site of The Alamo is where a larger and better armed force defeated a much smaller group of liberty-minded fighters, it serves as a personal reminder that freedom isn’t free. The autonomy which we enjoy today could be taken from us…if we allow it.

So during this year’s Independence Day, however you choose to celebrate it, remember that the only liberties we have are those we are willing to defend. The freedom to fly is worth defending.